COVID-19 is here and it’s probably here for a while. You’ve gone ahead and adapted your brick-and-mortar business to the new normal and set up an online business. You have tied up with shipping companies, worked around the eCommerce fulfilment logistics and have it all under control. Simple, right?! Not really! Now that you have your online business up and running, how do you sustain it?
The business strategy for a local store that only focuses on that store and the customers coming through might not be sufficient for an online store that is now open to the world to see. If you’re building an international store that not only ships in Canada but also ships to the US, your eCommerce store would need shipping services, an online strategy and a consistent customer experience. So, how do you grow your online business? Let’s find out!
Unified Customer Experience
Your customers are used to your business, the customer experience you provide and the way they interact with your brand. It is essential that the same is translated in their online experience. Omnichannel marketing is a multi-channel sales solution that provides an integrated shopping experience to the customers.
Create a single customer view. With an eCommerce store, you can connect with your customer through email marketing, SMS, app notifications, social media channels such as Facebook and Instagram, and even through chat bots on the website. Start by developing a brand tone, consistent messaging and a uniform customer experience. You can train and help your staff to understand how to talk to customers, how to attend to online customer queries and how to keep a consistent brand voice. Use all channels of communication to reach your prospective customers, but ensure that the customer experience through each channel is the same.
Use Technology To Secure Payments
If you ask me what’s the best advantage of technology when it comes to a business, I would say it’s the ability to transact online without ever visiting a store. Imagine a day when you’re lazy and don’t feel like visiting the store to buy your groceries. What do you do? You go to the online store, pick everything you want, place your order and pay online. The groceries get delivered to your doorstep through an eCommerce fulfilment partner. How and when did it all become so convenient and safe? The technology to securely make payments online has a huge role in this process.
You can not only pay online through debit cards, credit cards or your bank account, but also use the services of technology giants like Apple Pay, PayPal to complete your transactions. Integrating a payments partner that provides a secure avenue for customers to complete their online payments will go a long way in marketing your eCommerce store.
Online Marketing - How And What
Traditionally, physical stores have relied on age-old marketing methods to reach out to their customers and increase brand awareness. From billboards and radio ads to billboards and flyers, brick-and-mortar companies have done it all. With everyone going digital, online marketing has become almost essential for businesses to survive. Using a variety of online marketing channels to build an integrated marketing strategy is the new normal.
With an eCommerce store, your customers are now present everywhere. Using shipping services from companies like eShipper, you can ship products domestically as well as internationally. So, how does online marketing help? In the simplest form, you can use Google search ads to ensure people find you. Use social media channels like YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram to reach out the right audience. You can even use email marketing to keep yourself relevant and alive in your customer’s mind. There is absolutely no limit to what you can do with marketing yourself online.
Has Your Customer Changed?
Well, you aren’t physically present for your customers anymore. If they were in your store and you saw their attention wavering, you could have done something, right? You can do the same online. Building customer loyalty and ensuring customer retention is extremely important for any business, big or small. However, with customer attention spans decreasing and news-feeds getting overcrowded, you have to be different. Providing a customer experience that delights your customer instead of just satisfying them is what you should aim for. The important question to address is how you bring the same trust and satisfaction that your customers experienced in a physical store to your online store.
A New Business Strategy For The New Normal
You can’t just adapt the same marketing strategy that you’ve been using for years at your brick-and-mortar business. While it worked for years, an online store works differently. Think of how you can attract more customers, build a bigger base and use shipping companies to deliver products. Build a mobile friendly website since over 50% of the overall web traffic comes from mobile. Use online marketing and all the tools that are available to you to reach your target customer.
It’s important to explore all the integrations that are possible for your eCommerce store. Your business strategy could involve picking a shipping company that integrates multiple eCommerce platforms, syncs all your sales channels, manages inventory as well as saves cost.
In fact before you start strategizing or think of what to do hop on to the FB Live hosted by eShipper on Friday 12th June, 2020- at 1 PM which will talk about “Scaling your business at the economy reopens”. Sezzle and Gravid.ca will be joining in too to share insights on how to increase customer’s order size and tricks to manage your business successfully to gear it towards success respectively.
RSVP for the FB Live Event now!
Work on your logistics and figure out your eCommerce fulfilment needs. Try a shipping company like eShipper in Canada that provides an integrated shipping solution for your ecommerce business and is great not only for domestic shipping but also for shipping to the US and internationally. Click here and get a quote today. Your eCommerce business will sustain, as long as you keep adapting and keep working!
Brad Connors is our shipping expert with over 30 years in the transportation industry. Specialties: Specializing in Courier, LTL, Truckload, Air Freight, Ocean and warehousing.
